Hello everyone - quick question. I am trying to get an accurate written translation of “Be Here Now.” Truth be told, it’s for a tattoo I’m getting - and pretty soon. Gee,I would hate to mess it up!
Is it “Byddwch yma nawr” For some reason, I don’t know if this is correct; it feels wrong but can’t tell if I’m just off on this. Please help!
I guess it would depend on how “Be here now” is meant to sound, is it an instruction to someone (i.e Be here now! i.e come here now, or a more obscure instruction to actually “be” in the moment, etc)?
If so, “Byddwch” would probably be your boy!
Is it the same as above, but you’re saying it to a close friend, because theres an argument it could be “bydda yma nawr”
Or do you mean “be” as in the sense of just “being”, which is more like “bod”.
Sorry for potentially messing things up, but the word “be” is made to work quite hard in English, whereas in Welsh we take the load off it a bit and change the word accordingly.
Don’t rush this one, wait for all the advice to flood in and then get some more - Byddwch etc, sounds really good Welsh, but be here now isn’t normal or posh English is it.
I think you want a more colloquial Welsh expression, but don’t know what that is, except something like “dere ‘ma nawr’”, which might not match with what you’re trying to say.
What the others have said. I’m a native English speaker, but don’t really know what you mean by “Be Here Now”. Is it a command, like, “Come here now!” or is it more like, “Be mindful now at this moment”?
“Byddwch yma nawr” is like the first meaning. If it’s the second, you probably want something more like, “Bod yn ystyriol”, which is very different. You also need to check with a native speaker to be on the safe side as to the best translation of “mindful”.
Byddwch yma nawr/Byddwch yma rwan/Bydd yma nawr/Bydd yma rwan - as has been said, talk us through exactly what you’re aiming for in English before choosing any of these…
There is also a rather literary/archaic construction of “Bid yman yn awr” / “Bid yman yrŵan” (“to be here now”), which may work, but again, to echo everyone above, I think more clarification and advice is required.
You all are so wonderful for giving me such helpful input! It is a reference to a mindfulness practice, in a more yogic “be present” kind of way. What’s your thoughts with that in mind?
One of the words I have come across that seems to come closest to being mindful in the sense of being ‘aware’ or ‘conscious’ I think is ‘ymwybodol’. So this would give something like ‘bod yn ymwybodol nawr’ ?
But this would need confirming or otherwise by our more advanced speakers on this thread. Then again, there might be a shorter, more colloquial expression. As already said, this is not one to rush!
I was wondering whether you wanted to convey a sense of ‘mindfulness’–something like ‘be in the here and now’, or be ‘totally present’. There is quite a movement towards living with the ‘reality and the present moment’. Is that what you want to convey? If so, I leave it to the Welsh experts here to reduce that to a ‘natty tat’.
I hope someone knows how to make that happen - to me it would be better than a Banksy in Port Talbot and show what Welsh culture is all about. Fingers crossed.
‘Wedi inni fyfyrio’n hir ac yn ddwys ar y mater, rydw i ac fy yogini o wraig @Yoga_Laura yn gytûn taw ‘bod yma nawr’ yw’r cyfieithiad agosaf ac mwyaf addas yng nghyd-destun cais Sarah. Pob hwyl iddi hi gyda’r tatŵ!’
After considering the matter long and carefully, myself and my yogini wife agree that ‘bod yma nawr’ is the closest and most suitable translation in the context of Sarah’s request. Good luck to her with the tattoo!’
There you go, @sarahajenkins - you won’t get a more authoritative response than that (although if you could gather 5 Prifardd together, you’d probably get 5 different opinions, but that’s another matter… )…
Well, I am just speechless! Thanks so much, Aran, for your willingness to reach out to Nei Karadog, and thanks to everyone for all of your input. I learned SO much even just from the process. I am humbled by this community and its love of all things Welsh. Diolch yn Fawr iawn! When the tattoo is complete, I’ll pitch a copy of it as a follow up. It’s going to be quite the Welsh honoring piece. Cheers